You get a check-up at your primary care physical or OGBYN, dentist, eye doctor etc but somehow we manage to neglect our mental health. It’s taboo, nobody wants to talk about it and nobody wants to seem crazy. People around us can be dismissive about mental illness or even imply that you’ve completely made up the disorder but mental illness is real.

Would you tell someone who was coughing and sneezing all over the place that they’re just making it up and should just brush it off? If you fell out of a tree and broke your arm, nobody would fault you for wanting to go see a doctor, get x-rayed etc. so why is it so hard for us to accept that just like our physical bodies our minds need to stay healthy too?

Similar to eating bad foods or not working out, our lifestyle and experiences shape our mental health.

Adulting has a way of taking over your life if you let it. Recently popular shows like Empire (which my sister was featured on last week! Check her out!) have been shedding light on different mental health issues that tend to get swept under the rug in most cases. It’s important that you remember to take care of yourself mind, body and soul.

Some common mental health problems include adult attention deficit disorder (ADD), anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder to name a few.

Transitioning into the next phase of your life whether it’s a new job, new relationship, moving to a new city, or accepting a loss of a loved one can take a serious toll on our mental and we need to constantly remember to check up on ourselves to remain healthy.

Here are some easy ways to stay on top of your mental health:

1.Meditate.

Listen to a guided meditation on Spotify or download the Calm app to help you take your mind off of the stress of the day. Have you ever closed your eyes to rest and your mind just kept racing? Give your brain a break for at least 10 mins a day to rest and recharge by using various meditation techniques. Another great mental health thing I love is The Friend Zone Podcast. They talk about mental health awareness and self-reflection in a very fun relatable way. (For real check it out!)

2. Embrace your Spirituality.

Your spirituality can be inclusive of your religion if you practice one or stand alone. Remember to connect with yourself and whatever higher powers you might believe in. It’s important to remember to stay grounded and really understand what your beliefs and values are. The world has a funny way of testing you.

3. See a psychiatrist.

Just like we see our doctor every year as a preventative measure for our physical health, I’m a firm believer that we should be doing the same for our mental health. Check your insurance to see if an annual checkup with the psychiatrist (or therapist/counselor) is covered. Even if you feel perfectly “normal” (whatever that means) you should at least touch base annually if possible. Allow yourself to be open during the appointment and use the time to do a sort of mental spring cleaning.

Adulting can get super stressful and it’s so important to take care of ourselves mind body and spirit. Have you ever done a mental check-up on yourself? How do you cope with stress and anxiety?

Ehh. Maybe, but I know what it usually equals if nothing else.. more DEBT… and nobody needs more debt.

As a country, we are literally drowning in student loan debt, so I encourage you all not to be so quick to just into unnecessary debt if you don’t have to.

After graduating school life can get interesting. Some of us are looking to start our career, some are taking a gap year, and some are going to grad school. All of these options are cool because we are individuals and everyone is on their own path. However, I’ve seen a lot of people feed into the myth that the more degrees you have directly correlates to how smart you are or how much money you’ll make and this just isn’t true.

I’m sure that all of us have been told since we were little that education is the key to success, which is why we should all go to school etc etc etc. I really do believe that education is the key to being successful, however I am less of a believer that said education has to come from a traditional university. Although I do hold an MBA, to be completely honest most of the skills I learned in school could be learned outside of a traditional classroom depending on what you want to know. We are the generation of the internet! We literally have everything at our fingertips. Unless you want to become a professional where a professional degree is absolutely required like a doctor, lawyer, accountant etc. You might want to consider some alternative forms of education

Online courses – Sometimes you can just take a course to learn what you want to know about. Again. We have the internet! Site like Udemy, Coursera, and yes even YouTube can provide online courses that can teach you just about anything from experts in their fields.

Community Colleges– If online learning isn’t your think, you can take a course at your local community college. The courses are often much cheaper than enrolling into a university full or part time and you can take classes a la carte and on your own terms. Some courses you take a course on event planning, web development, politics etc

Certifications – Maybe the skill you want to learn can be validated through a certification as opposed to a degree. There are certifications for so many things, you can study anything from how to become a personal trainer to project management to taxes.

Mentoring, Internships & On the job training – Above all experience is still the best teacher. Find an opportunity where you can learn as you go along. Because at the end of the day experience is way better than theory… and that’s what degrees are a bunch of theory.